


Dedication

by elareine, reveetoile



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Mention of the possibility of animal death and animal harm, Misunderstandings, Near Future, Romance, Theseus being a good brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 12:31:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13031193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elareine/pseuds/elareine, https://archiveofourown.org/users/reveetoile/pseuds/reveetoile
Summary: Percival Graves and Tina are assigned to take out a smuggling ring together with a British Auror. They weren't expecting Theseus to show up...





	Dedication

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleLonnie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLonnie/gifts).



> Dear LittleLonnie, I really hope you'll like this story. 
> 
> A big thank you to prettylittlepliers for taking the time to proofread this story. Also a big thank you to elareine for saving me with this exchange when I was so ill that I couldn't concentrate on anything anymore. You are wonderful.

Tina was a very dedicated auror. Everyone knew that. She had continued to do her job even after being (unfairly) demoted, after all, kept New York from being overrun by dangerous beasts, and had assisted in the capture of the most dangerous wizard of her time. She had proven herself.

At least everyone _should_ have known that. It hadn’t kept her from being assigned the most boring or most annoying cases for months now. She’d returned to the very bottom rung of the department, and her colleagues seemed determined to keep her there.

At least her new partner wasn’t so bad.

“Morning, Tina,” Percival Graves greeted her as he entered the office only minutes after her. As always, they were the first ones there.

After they’d exposed the fake Graves, Tina herself had taken to looking for the real one. He’d been her friend, and she hadn’t even noticed him being replaced by a monster. Finally, she’d found him, and a rather perplexed Graves (who had spent his time locked up in a shrunken prison) returned to work with her.

Except, to Tina’s disgust, the others weren’t nearly as delighted to see him. For God’s sake, it wasn’t the man’s fault he’d been taken by surprise by one of the most powerful wizards of their generation! All of them had been too, after all.

Maybe they just didn’t want to look their own failure in the face.

The upshot was that Tina and Percival were now working together. As far as punishments went, it really wasn’t one.

“Good morning, Percival. Got anything new?”

“Did you think criminals rested for a day just because it was the weekend?” he asked her with a lifted brow. “Got assigned a smuggling ring.”

“That sounds serious.” Tina sat up straighter.

“More serious than anything we’ve been getting for weeks? Yeah. I think it’s one of the annoying ones, because it’s international cooperation.”

Tina frowned. “But that carries prestige.”

Percival shrugged. “Then either we were specifically requested or someone has worked with this guy before and thought him a pain. I vote for the latter.”

“Who is it?”

“A British auror, I think. One second…” he skimmed the pages. “Ah, Theseus Scamander. I think I’ve heard of him. And isn’t Scamander the name of that guy that…” Graves trailed off. He’d probably noticed Tina’s flinch.

Urgh. He wouldn’t let this go, if she knew him at all. “I slightly know his brother. I believe Theseus was a war hero, but I’ve never met him”

He studied her for a long moment. In the beginning, Tina had admittedly felt slightly uncomfortable when that happened, remembering all too well the acerbic comments his doppelganger would throw at her if she lowered her defenses even just a bit. But this was Percival, and though he could be harsh, he was never unjust.

“Well, we’ll meet him tomorrow. How about we go through the file and then you can reach out to your informant network while I go interrogate the snitch we got all this from?”

 

Theseus Scamander looked nothing like his brother. His hair was dark, his eyes a different blue than Newt’s, and there wasn’t a single freckle on that pale face. They had the same cheekbones but on Theseus they looked aristocratic - even haughty. But his handshake was firm and his voice friendly as he said: “Ms. Goldstein, Mr. Graves, how do you do.”

“Mr. Scamander, thank you for joining us,” Percival greeted him and Tina echoed the sentiment.

“Of course. We’ve been tracing the activities of this ring on our side for quite some time, so we were very glad to hear of your breakthrough.”

Tina gestured to her desk that they had repurposed as a small conference table. “Would you like to sit down? We were thinking of doing a raid tonight.”

The expression of impressed surprise that crossed Theseus’ face was, however, very much the same as Newt’s. It made her ache a little a bit. “You’re already that far?”

Tina shrugged. “Two of my informants were able to confirm that the guise of the travelling circus is correct.”

They took their seats. Percival rolled out a map of New York harbour, laying a finger on a specific pier. “The ship will arrive tonight at pier 5. We think it’s likely they’ll move on immediately, so an interception before they load everything on their wagons would be best.”

“If they use a circus,” Theseus pointed out, “It’s likely that they don’t just smuggle unicorn horns, erumpents horns and acromantula eggs - but actual unicorns, erumpents and acromantulas.”

Percival nodded thoughtfully. “Disguised as non-magical animals, most likely. We should request back-up in that case - I’d rather not be distracted trying to control a herd of enraged erumpents while arresting those criminals.”

“What do we do with the animals after? We can’t just euthanize them,” Tina asked. The latter was a standard department procedure she had always hated. And, okay, _maybe_ Newt had been a little bit of an influence on her.

“I know an expert who could help capture them and return them to their rightful environment, if at all possible,” Theseus suggested.

Tina froze.

“Your brother, I presume?” Percival asked.

Theseus nodded. “He _is_ the foremost expert on magizoology, after all, despite how much our mother might wish otherwise.”

“I have his book. ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.’ Very informative and well written.”

Yes. The book.

Tina had seen it too. In the bookstore at MACUSA, not because Newt had shown it to her. She’d thought… he’d promised… but that didn’t matter, she told herself firmly. Just another disappointment of many.

“I would have brought Newt with me right away after I got your missive about the circus,” Theseus said, “but unfortunately, his entry permit to the US has been revoked.”

Tina’s face whipped around. “He can’t enter the US?”

Theseus’ eyes were studying her. “You didn’t know?”

Tina couldn’t answer right away. Newt couldn’t come to the US? He hadn’t just decided that she wasn’t worth it?

Luckily, Percival took over for her. “I’m afraid we’re a bit out of the loop these days, Mr. Scamander, and the visa department isn’t required to notify us of these things.”

Theseus was still looking at Tina. “He can’t even send letters - it’s a bit of a problem, I understand. Of course I know there was quite a ruckus when he was last in New York, but…”

“Most of which was Grindelwald’s fault,” Tina cut in defensively.

Something in Theseus’ face relaxed, and he smiled at her. “Of course.”

Percival looked between the two of them. “Well, the good news is, we still outrank the visa department. How would your brother like to be an official MACUSA consultant?”

“President Picquery won’t like that all,” Tina reminded him.

“True,” Percival shrugged, “but I bet she won’t overrule my decision, either.” That would remind everyone just who had been the one to discover the leech in their midst, after all.

Tina reluctantly grinned back. “True.”

Theseus was openly grinning now. Tina was starting to think he’d taken this case (and possibly requested the two of them, now that she was thinking about it) for a reason. “Great! How about you get that paperwork done and I’ll return my brother at - say, six o’clock?”

 

By the time evening came around, Tina’s heart was pounding, and it had nothing to do with the upcoming raid.

Theseus stepped out of the chimney first, greeting them with a smile. Then came Newt.

He looked good. Not quite the same - it had been over a year, and the coat was different - but familiar. Still Newt.

And he was heading straight to her, completely ignoring Percival and his brother. “Tina!”

“Hello, Newt,” Tina forced out as he came to stand right in front of her.

His hand lifted as if to touch her - Tina shivered with the remembrance of his fingers in her hair - but in the end he dropped it and they just stood there awkwardly, taking each other in.

There was a cough behind them. Tina didn’t look away from Newt to see who it was, but it seemed to remind Newt to speak.

“Ah - here.” Newt held out a copy of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’. “It’s the very first one printed. I saved it for you. I mean, it’s nowhere near complete - I’ve already written three more entries, and the chapter on thestrals is missing their feeding rituals, very careless of me -”

“I’m sure I’ll like it,” was all Tina could think to say. It was true, too. She might not have the world’s greatest interest in magical creatures, but the enthusiasm Newt brought to the topic was infectious. Of course, the content of it wasn’t the only reason she wanted to have that book.

“I’m sorry it took me so long.” Newt looked down in an uncharacteristic display of shyness. She’d seen him awkward, and terribly so, but not shy. Except maybe that one time when he’d said goodbye to her on the docks… oh.

Tina smiled and gently took the book from his hands. “How about we catch up some? Have a cup of tea? After work, of course.”

“After we free the animals,” Newt agreed.

They grinned at each other. The game was on.

 

“...and that’s the story of this very special book,” Queenie finished.

Little Lysander frowned down at the withered pages. There was a handwritten dedication on the first page: ‘To Tina. For everything.’

“But did they get married?”

Queenie pointed at the dedication. “That was included in every edition after.”

“That’s no answer, auntie,” her grand-nephew whined. “And what happened with the smuggling ring? Did they free the unicorns?”

Queenie smiled. “Well, let me tell you…”


End file.
